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Comment: Re:Privelege (Score 1) 482

by Malibee (#39217441) Attached to: Photographing Police: Deletion Is Not Forever

If this is real, definitely teacher fail ("without resistance", ouch). However, it is quite appropriate for schools to require a measure of respect for teachers and other students, and require students to voice their dissent respectfully, so I say student fail on this one as well. If the kid had pointed relevant unit conversions in the textbook instead of accusing the teacher of lying, this letter might not exist.

Comment: Wrong Question (Score 2) 642

by Malibee (#38998797) Attached to: Windows 8 Features With Linux Antecedents

There's no question that companies like Microsoft borrow good ideas from F/OSS, and often improve upon them. This is not a bad thing in and of itself: borrowing good ideas is a central tenant of F/OSS. The important question is, how much of the improved idea does Microsoft let F/OSS borrow back? For example, will the Gnome project get sued if they incorporated elements of Windows 8's file copy dialog into Nautilus?

Comment: IPv6? (Score 1) 223

by Malibee (#38411112) Attached to: DynDNS Cuts Back Free DNS Options

If you know enough about how the Internet to understand dynamic DNS updates work, you can figure out IPv6, too. Dynamic DNS sites are low traffic, so it's not a particularly onerous task to distribute a hosts file, or maintain a private DNS server. If you have to access the server from an IPv4-only network that you don't control, use NAT-traversal technologies like AYIYA.

Comment: Sauron didn't create the palantiri (Score 2) 276

by Malibee (#38176162) Attached to: Palantir, the War On Terror's Secret Weapon

Those of you who are making the connection with Sauron would do well to remember that the Seeing Stones had many good and important uses before one fell into Sauron's hands. The Stones themselves were not evil. For the real-life analog, see http://www.palantirtech.com/government/analysis-blog/haiti

Anyway, not a fan of increased government surveillance, but calling "Big Brother" because the government is working to share data more effectively strikes me as equivalent to assuming that every person using Bittorrent is a pirate, or every person who refuses the full-body scan at the airport is a terrorist.

Comment: Impressive amount of spin (Score 1) 1036

by Malibee (#32787266) Attached to: Google To Add Pay To Cover a Tax For Gays

I see nothing that indicates these benefits apply solely to same-sex domestic partnerships. Heterosexuals in a domestic partnership appear to be covered as well. If not, I think there's a large number of heterosexuals in domestic partnerships that would cry "foul", and with good cause--equality isn't a synonym for preferential treatment.

This is good for an entirely different reason, though. If this trend continues, the financial incentives for state-sanctioned marriage are reduced, which makes people less likely to be concerned with obtaining that marriage certificate. Maybe, given time, the idea that the state has any business being involved in such an intensely personal issue will fade away, and a person's marital status won't affect their tax status at all.

This has the nifty side-effect of making the gay marriage question absolutely irrelevant, which would be a huge relief. I see that issue being used quite indiscriminately as a political lever by both sides, and frankly it disgusts me.

Comment: A great leap forward for gender relations. (Score 4, Funny) 110

by Malibee (#31770580) Attached to: Japanese Astronaut Gets Designer "Space Suit"

I'm sure designer clothes will inspire the males in the male-dominated atmosphere to take great pains to put the female at ease. Because really what keeps us male astronauts from treating you female astronauts with the dignity and respect that you _deserve_ is simply that you dress like hobos.

PS: not actually an astronaut.

In the long run we are all dead. -- John Maynard Keynes

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